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Comments [33]

R Meyer
from Manhattan

there are tons of bad biblical translations. the NRSV is my favorite these days. The New Jerusalem Bible was translated into French, and then from French to English. Both retain a lot of the prose & poetry, which is lost in something such as The New American Bible.

Well, I guess it really depends on what translation you read, but I always heard it "of those to whom much is given, much is expected," and when I asked our very learned parish priest the origin of the expression, HE told me it was from St. Ignatius Loyola (who was probably paraphrasing (or even translating) Luke anyway.

Impressed as always at what all the listeners have contributed to this question

You mentioned Pinyin and I thought you were going to lay out the full answer but you didn't quite get there. Here it is.

The answer is that it has always been BEIZHING in Mandarin. The old systems of Wade and Wade Giles go back to a Jesuit system that put a heavy emphasis on apostrophes. The problem is that English speakers are generally not prone to notice apostrophes, and the old system hinges completely on paying attention to them.

For example we have the Tao Te Ching which, with no apostrophes, should be pronounced Dao De Dzhing. Several consonants move from voiced to unvoiced with the addition of the apostrophe. And Peking, with no apostrophes, was intending to be pronounced as Beizhing. With apostrophes, P'ek'ing, it would actually be something like "Peking" but that is a word which really never existed. I think we are stuck with it as a descriptor for ducks, living or roasted.

LUKE 12:48"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." This expresses the concept that the Christian God is just: he does not require any less faithfulness to the Gospel from those who have much material wealth and power. On the contrary, God seeks more committment from those who, through their earthly circumstances, have more ability to help their fellow man. john,Woodside

To the one whom much is given...is from the Bible. I forget where though. I suspect that it has been translated with sexist language (i.e., to the man....) Inclusive language linguists prefer "to the one...."

Peking is a tranliteration of Cantonese or Southern "north capital" pronounced closer to "buck" + "king". In Mandarin, the same characters are pronounced "bay jing" or Beijing in pinyin spelling. There is a J sound in mandarin. very close to the english, less like a soft j many westerners think it is.

I saw a commercial (think it was for a phone company) where two parents are talking to their daughter in Chinese. And the daughter asks if her mother's making Peking duck. While I couldn't understand a word of it, she definitely said a word that sounded like Peking. So maybe Peking refers to some other detail of the city of Beijing.

On the subject of house versus home: I think "home" became a buzzword with realtors who wanted to make their product more appealing. That explains why smaller houses are more likely to be described as homes than larger houses, in order to bolster the less grand product. Also, in this unfortunate time of high mortgage foreclosures, I think we hear talk of foreclosing homes instead of foreclosing houses in order to call up the emotional aspects of the situation.

I have a problem with the pronunciation of "divisive". I have always pronounced it with a long "I" ("eye) sound on the second "I". Then I started hearing President Bush saying it with a short "I" (as in "miss"). I've looked in my dictionary, and the "miss" pronunciation isn't there. And now I hear Obama saying it in the same Bush way!

The chief executive of the US is addressed as "Mr. President;" the chief executive of a city is addressed as "Mr. Mayor," yet the chief executive of a state is addressed as "Governor." - Why the discrepancy?

A question for Patricia: I love your appearances with Leonard and I enjoy reading your blog, but I'd like to know what language-related blogs you read and radio programs and podcasts you listen to, or would recommend to the non-professional language lover.

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